Cory’s fave five TV shows

I’m not a big TV aficionado like Siano or Sterno, but the top five are pretty easy for me:

1. The Shield – Best show on TV today, bar none. The character depictions are amazing, you forget these are actors and view them as real people, with flaws, vices, secrets and quirks. Every two or three episodes, there will be five-minute scene that will be so beyond anything any other show could possibly attempt on any other network, that it makes you even wonder what all these shows are even thinking. Just a few: the incredible finale of the pilot where Mackey shoots the infiltrator Terry, setting up the entire series, and then stares into his eyes as Terry dies… Mackey putting the gun in his hooker CI’s mouth and forces her to help them infiltrate the drug dealer’s crib … Mackey slams Armadillo’s face into the gas stove, burning a huge spiral scar into his cheek… the entire money train heist show, one of the most tense 60 minutes you could ever imagine any TV show attempting… Dutch choking the cat to death as he tries to understand a killer’s motivation… the list goes on and on. Best. Show. Ever.

2. The X-Files — Provactive, darkly funny, well-acted and imaginative. What really made this show work is the little thought in the back of your mind that yeah, stuff like this could really happen.

3. West Wing — Wouldn’t it be great if all conversations were like this? Fast, smart, funny, insightful, intelligent? Wouldn’t it be great if this was really how politics worked?

4. Oz – A little “out there” in terms of believability, but I loved the tension and dread that permeated the show. It’s prison, it’s not supposed to be fun. Chris Meloni is an amazing actor and he made Keller a truly frightening character.

5. Star Trek – if you grew up in the 70’s like I did, you never missed Star Trek. Looking back of course it’s hokey and cheesy, but there’s never been an unintentionally funnier show; to not love Shatner is to not love overacting. And since Siano is so fond of those who do yeoman’s work for the show, let’s not forget to give a major shoutout to the original, Yeoman Janice Rand (right)!

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Honorable mentions (with great thanks to many of the posts above): Most Extreme Elimination Challenge, Mystery Science Theater 3000, Entourage, Mission Impossible, Cheers, ER, Get Smart, Hill Street Blues, Frasier, Married With Children, I Dream of Jeannie, WKRP in Cincinnati, Friends and the Larry Sanders Show.

If we’re including game shows I have to have the Gong Show, and if we include cartoons, add in the Ren and Stimpy Show, SpongeBob SquarePants and Tom and Jerry.

Finally, if miniseries are included, Band of Brothers was amazing and worth watching as many times as HBO cares to air it.

Enjoy!

Cory

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Glad to see some love for Mystery Science Theater 3000, which is probably the most consistently funny thing I’ve ever seen. Actually if you like that, a bunch of the MST3K guys have this website http://www.rifftrax.com where you can get mp3s of them doing commentaries on major Hollywood movies. The Road House commentary is especially funny.

Believe it or not I never was a huge Seinfeld fan. I thought it was funny, but a little bit too much theater of the absurd for me. The recent comedy that I really loved, but accidentally omitted from my HM’s, which I am correcting now, was “Everybody Loves Raymond.” Anyone who lives on Long Island within shouting distance of their in-laws can appreciate just how spot-on the comedy was in that show. Pitch perfect.
–CS

1. If you liked Oz when that was on then you would love LOST.
Best show ever produced in television history. Literally, four or five of the best characters on OZ are on LOST.
The writers are well read and cultured. Also, the writers planned everything out before the first show aired.
Last thing I like about the show. It is not manipulative. They don’t tell you what the characters are thinking, there are NO recaps within the story to catch us up. You have to actually think and figure out things yourself.
Great Show

2. Six Feet Under. I actually subscribed to HBO for this show.

3. OZ. Only watched this show because I subscribed to HBO and at first hated it because it was so graphic. However, the acting was excellent. So good that they were able pull off crazy situations. I became a huge fan. (loved the Luke Perry and Rick Fox characters)

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